Report: McAfee founder wanted for murder in Belize

John McAfee, the founder of the antivirus software firm that still bears his name, is wanted in Belize in connection with the murder of American expatriate Gregory Faull, who was found dead on Sunday.

Marco Vidal, head of the country's Gang Suppression Unit, toldGizmodo that McAfee was a prime suspect in the case. Faull, who was last seen alive on Saturday night, filed a formal complaint on Wednesday against McAfee over the latter man's "roguish behavior," his habit of firing off guns, and his poor management of his dogs.

According to the police report Faull's body was found at 7:20am by his Belezean housekeeper lying in the hall of his house with a single gunshot wound to the back of his head. A 9mm Luger shell was found on the stairs and there was no sign of a forced entry, although an iPhone and laptop are missing from the house.

The San Pedro Sunreports officers have searched McAfee's house, which is situated next door to Faull's home, but he is missing and has not returned so far. A male housekeeper living in Faull's home has said he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary on the night in question, but did say that it had been raining very heavily.

So far police have not said if they suspect a motive for the attack, but they wish to interview McAfee over the incident. The GSU has had issues with McAfee before, raiding his compound in May with a squad of more than 40 officers to arrest him over firearms offenses and unlicensed drug manufacturing. All charges were subsequently dropped.

After selling the security software firm he founded for a rumored $100m, McAfee spent time pursuing yoga (on which he published several books) and low-altitude flying, and latterly drug research in Belize, where he has been looking for natural antibiotic formulas.

Gizmodo has recently published a series of Heart of Darkness–style articles on McAfee's recent history, claiming an increasingly paranoid McAfee was consorting with known gangsters, experimenting with Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (a legal psychoactive drug he called "super perv powder"), and entertaining a variety of teenaged women.

"I never met him personally, but have heard plenty of stories over last 20 years of him being a very strange individual," one long-term security specialist told El Reg. "There have been a few reports (not just in Gizmodo) in last few years questioning his activities in Belize." ®